the fiat first trojan horse

working with a payroll founder this month.

he wants to pay employees in bitcoin. real conviction. real product. real demand from a small but vocal user base.

but most companies wont turn on bitcoin payroll on day one. too many internal questions. too much accounting unfamiliarity. too much policy uncertainty.

so he made a smart move.

fiat first product. bitcoin optional.

employees can choose to receive a percentage of their paycheck in bitcoin. or zero percent. companies dont have to do anything different. payroll runs the same. taxes are handled the same. the bitcoin path is just a switch the employee can flip.

he called it a trojan horse strategy. and he was right.

this is one of the most important moves bitcoin builders are figuring out right now.

you do not need to convince the world to use bitcoin all at once.

you need to put bitcoin inside the systems people already use.

visa. ach. payroll. point of sale. corporate treasury. bank apps.

most users will never seek out bitcoin. but if their payroll lets them receive five percent of every paycheck in bitcoin.... eventually they will. one click is much smaller than one decision to download a wallet, set up custody, learn about keys, and figure out exchanges.

the fiat first trojan horse compresses the friction.

and the long tail effects of this strategy are massive. an employee who has received bitcoin in their paycheck for six months has crossed a psychological line. they own bitcoin now. they have skin in the game. they will pay attention to news that affects their stack. they will eventually want self custody. they will eventually become advocates.

but none of that happens if they have to do everything at once.

this is the opposite of how the early bitcoin community thought about adoption. the early thesis was educate everyone. teach them about sound money. show them why fiat is broken. then they will switch.

didnt work. people dont switch on principle. people switch on convenience.

so the strategy that works is convenience first. principle later.

let the user receive bitcoin in their paycheck without changing anything else about their life. once they have a stack. once it appreciates. once they ask why their friends arent doing this. now they are ready for the principle.

education works after acquisition. not before.

this is true for nearly every important behavioral shift in history.

so for whatever bitcoin product you are building right now.

where is the trojan horse?